


Somewhere Far From Here

by AlexIsOkay



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 18:10:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16023236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexIsOkay/pseuds/AlexIsOkay
Summary: Maribelle loves Lissa with every fiber of her being. But in a land where eyes are upon the princess constantly, she knows they'll never find happiness within the borders of Ylisse.





	Somewhere Far From Here

Sunlight streams in through the small cracks in the curtains as Maribelle looks over at the sleeping figure beside her, watching Lissa’s shoulders rise and fall with each unconscious breath. Maribelle sits up, and her fingers stretch out to run themselves along her beloved’s exposed back. It’s a delicate touch, barely anything at all, but she can feel the muscle that’s started to form there, firm even when relaxed. Lissa has decided it’s time to learn to fight the same way her brother and the rest of his shepherds can, and Vaike has taken to teaching her. Lugging a heavy axe around during training every day builds strength quickly, and even when Lissa complains about how sore her arms are, she still seems so happy about it. It brings a smile to Maribelle’s face, even if the thought of Lissa standing on the front lines of a battlefield makes her sick to her stomach.

As Maribelle’s fingers trice idle patterns her beloved starts to stir, and she immediately pulls away, fearful that she’s disturbed the princess’s peaceful slumber. But Lissa already seems to be awake now, eyes slowly blinking themselves open as she comes back to the land of the living. She looks up towards Maribelle, a sleepy smile crossing over her face as their eyes meet.

“G’morning,” the mumbles out, voice still sounding half asleep.

“Good morning, Darling,” Maribelle replies. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No,” Lissa says. “I don’t think so.”

It’s easy for them to meet like this. As Lissa’s attendant Maribelle is expected to be the last one out at night after helping the princess prepare for bed, and the first on there in the morning to help her prepare for the day. Nobody will notice if she doesn’t actually leave the royal chambers in the interim. Nobody will suspect what the night has held.

“Goodness gracious, did you sneak out while I slept and run your head through a bramble patch?” Maribelle chides, tugging a brush through Lissa’s tangled hair.

“It’s not my fault!” Lissa protests, in between yelps and winces as the brush hits particular stubborn knots. “You know my hair just does this on its own.” Maribelle sighs, pausing for a moment before leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Lissa’s head.

“And yet I find it beautiful all the same. Perhaps one of these days you’ll let me do more with it.”

The days are long after they leave that room, hours upon hours of being apart from each other- and yet those hours as the easy part. Because when Lissa’s not there it’s out of sight, out of mind, and it’s a simpler task for Maribelle to forget all about it and focus on her other duties instead. But when she and Lissa have to stand near each other, when she has to stand so close and stare at the object of her affection and admiration while knowing she can’t reach out to take her hand or lean forward to place a kiss upon her lips, those hours stretch so much longer.

They talk of marriage. As the Exalt there are no calls for Emmeryn to marry, but the same can’t be said of her siblings. Chrom has already taken a wife, and now that he and Sumia have wed eyes have fallen upon Lissa to do so as well. Suggestions come from the court, of noble families and neighboring kingdoms with sons and princes who would make powerful political allies. Emmeryn turns their ideas away, saying Lissa will find a husband when she’s ready, and Maribelle appreciates that the Exalt is willing to protect her younger sister like that. But at the same time, she can’t help but notice the subtext: Lissa will find a husband, not a spouse. And it’s a question of when she’s ready, and not if.

Long days of regal duties are interspersed with small breaks, and it’s those breaks that give Maribelle a will to keep going. “This tea is really good!” Lissa says, cradling the freshly brewed cup Maribelle prepared for her from the other side of the table. “What is it?”

“It’s the same honey ginger I’ve made for you countless times before, dear,” Maribelle replies. “You should really be able to recognize it by now.”

“But I don’t! Are you sure you didn’t do something different this time?”

“Positive. I would be offended, were it not for the fact this means I get to see your joy upon drinking it for the first time repeated over and over again.”

As evening comes around Maribelle draws the bath, hot steam rising from the surface of the water and quickly filling the room. The fog makes everything slightly less visible, and it almost feels like a dream when she watches Lissa walk through the door, hair already down, body covered only by a towel. Maribelle smiles, running a hand through the water to test the temperature.

“I hope it’s not too hot for you,” she teases. “I know how picky you can be.”

“I’m not picky!” Lissa protests. “You just like your bathwater to be as hot as your tea. It’s too much!” But she seems satisfied, dropping her towel and carefully lowering herself into the water, and Maribelle dips into the water alongside her. Her duties are simply to help the princess bathe, but she was never explicitly told she couldn’t do that while bathing alongside her.

In actuality they’re no more private now than they are whenever they’re laying together in Lissa’s chambers, but something about the veil of steam makes the rest of the castle feel like it must be a world away. Nearly without fail they end up pressed against each other, lips joined, limbs entangled, hands traveling to places nobles and princesses are meant to save until after they marry. And then, in the midst of that passion, Maribelle breaks away to say something unexpected.

“Let’s run away together.” Lissa stares back at her, flushed face looking nearly stunned for a few moments until she breaks out into soft giggling.

“You always say the funniest things in the heat of the moment,” she says.

“Yes,” Maribelle replies, already leaning back in to brush her lips over Lissa’s again. “I suppose I do.” She doesn’t have the heart to say she’s sure she’ll still feel this way when the steam and her head have both cleared.

Maribelle doesn’t come to Lissa’s chambers that night, and Lissa finds that odd. Alone, and with a small sense of concern, the princess starts to ready herself for bed on her own. She’s fully capable of doing so, and were it not for the convenience having Maribelle as her attendant provides she would have refused to have one entirely. Still, it’s unlike Maribelle to not show up, and Lissa can’t shake the concern from her mind as she crawls into her bed by herself. Thoughts of how large and how empty it feels occupy her mind as she drifts off to sleep.

She’s awoken hours later by a rapping at her door, and for a moment a wave of panic shoots through her, afraid of who could be on the other end. But she has guards, and surely they wouldn’t let anyone dangerous through, right? So she rises from her bed, and she carefully walks across the floor, slowly reaching out to undo the latch on her door. She opens it just a crack at first, but she immediately throws it open wider when she sees who’s standing on the other side.

“Maribelle?” she says. “Where have you been? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” Maribelle simply raises a finger to her lips in response, shushing Lissa before speaking in a much more hushed tone.

“Get dressed. I have something to show you.”

“Maribelle, it’s the middle of the night.”

“I know. Just trust me, okay?” And Lissa is skeptical, but she does. She returns to her room, and she gets dressed- nothing as ornate and elaborate as her typical regalia, but something at least a fair bit more presentable than her nightgown. She starts to follow Maribelle, but even as they creep through the corridors and down the staircases of the castle Maribelle still refuses to tell Lisa where she’s taking her. They go outside, down the path towards the stables, and only then does it become clear to Lissa what her lover has planned.

Maribelle’s horse is standing there, already brought out from the stable, saddled up and ready to ride. There are bags affixed to the mount’s sides, each one looking packed full to the brim. Waterskins are draped over the creature’s neck. Lissa stops where she stands, and Maribelle turns to face her.

“I’ve packed us enough rations to last at least a week,” she says. “If we spend most of each day riding that should be more than enough time to get us over the border.”

“Maribelle…” Lissa whispers, her face still frozen in an expression of shock. “What… What are you suggesting?”

“I mean what I said earlier,” Maribelle replies, walking closer. She reaches out to take Lissa’s hands, pressing them between her own, looking the princess in the eyes as she speaks. “I want to run away with you.”

“But- But my family,” Lissa says. “Chrom, and Emmeryn, and- And all my friends, and my people… Ylisse…”

“I know. And I would never dare to ask this of you lightly. But I desire more than anything to be with you, and this is the only way.” Maribelle steps closer as she speaks, leaning in to rest her forehead against Lissa’s. “I want to find a place where I don’t have to hide my love for you from the world, my dear. I want to go somewhere that will let me walk through the streets while holding your hand and will let me kiss you whenever I should feel like it. I want to go to a land where I can wed you myself, instead of waiting for some dastardly prince to steal you away from me. I love you, Lissa. And I’m ready to give up everything I know in a heartbeat if it means a chance to love you more fully than I’m permitted to right now.”

As Maribelle finishes speaking she realizes Lissa’s hands are shaking, and there are tears in her eyes. Her voice is unsteady, but she speaks.

“If- If we leave now… Will we ever be able to come back?”

“I don’t know,” Maribelle replies. She doesn’t know, and she won’t lie. Even if this means Lissa won’t come with her.

“Where will we go…?” Lissa asks.

“I don’t know that either,” she admits. “But anywhere has to be better than here, right? I would travel to the ends of the earth just to find a place for the two of us to be happy together. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do and nowhere I wouldn’t go for you, my darling.” Maribelle’s words are followed by a long silence, and she expects to realize this is all for nothing. She can be wild and impulsive like this, because she doesn’t have the duties of a princess resting upon her shoulders. Lissa can never be so free.

“Okay.” The words stun Maribelle, but as Lissa lifts her head and looks her in the eyes she knows she means them. There are still tears, but Lissa has solidified her resolve. She pulls her hands away, starting to walk towards the horse. “We should go quickly then. Before anyone realizes we’re out here.” Now Maribelle is the one who finds herself frozen. In that moment, realizing she and Lissa are about to start a new life together, she wants to run forward and lift her beloved into the air, twirl her around in celebration and kiss her time and time again under the moonlight. But she knows Lissa is right: there will be opportunity for that later. Right now they need to go, and quickly.

“Get on first. I’ll help you up.” Lissa has ridden while holding onto Maribelle a few times before, but never by herself. Her mastery on horseback is still far surpassed by Maribelle’s own, and that’s clear even from the shaky way she climbs into the stirrups, needing Maribelle’s assistance to get herself up and over the saddle. By comparison Maribelle makes it look effortless, climbing atop her mount in the same way she has countless times before, and in a single fluid motion she’s perched herself on the back of her steed. She feels Lissa’s arms around her the moment she’s situated, and a smile crosses over her face as she reaches for the reins.

“Are you ready, my dear?” she asks, looking back at Lissa over her shoulder, drinking in the moonlit beauty that promises to be by her side for the rest of her life.

“I’m ready,” Lissa replies, arms wrapping around Maribelle’s torso more firmly.

“Then let us be off.” And with a snap of the reins the horse begins to gallop, carrying them both into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I got a weird surge of inspiration to do a little oneshot before going back to some of my longer projects, and I decided to experiment with a writing style that's a bit unusual for me as well. I'm late to the Awakening party and only finished the game a month or so ago, but even then it took me longer than it should have to finally get around to writing something for these fabulous characters. Hopefully you enjoyed it! If you liked this fic and want to see more from me you can find me at alex-is-a-writer on tumblr, I use that space to post fic updates as well as general writing related content. Thanks again!


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